Joyce (shoulder) touches 103.2 mph in rehab outing

Joyce was summoned to protect a three-run lead in the final frame and wound up being charged with a run after Nate Eaton tagged him for an RBI single following a one-out walk from Jarren Duran. The hard-throwing 25-year-old reliever appears to have a lock on the closing role in Los Angeles for the final few weeks of the season.

Joyce isn’t charged with the blown save, if you’re looking for a positive, because he came in to pitch in the eighth, and all three runs were charged to him after he exited the game. So instead, he gets a loss and a hold. Weird sport. Joyce didn’t give up a hit, but he walked a pair and hit another with all three runners crossing on a grand slam by Edmundo Sosa allowed by Peralta. Joyce should continue to get save looks — the few the Angels will provide, anyway — but there’s just a lot of volatility in his profile because of his command problems.

The Angels scored the automatic runner in the top of the 10th to make it a save situation. Joyce went on to retire the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the 10th, but he then gave up a game-tying double to Wyatt Langford. After an intentional walk of Brandon Nimmo (why?), Joyce gave up a hard shot down the third base line. Denzer Guzman made a nice grab, only to throw wildly to second base and allow the winning run to score. It was correctly ruled a single, but both runs ended up unearned. This shouldn’t hurt Joyce’s standing as the favorite for saves in the Halos’ pen.

Joyce was summoned in the ninth inning with a two-run lead to close out the game against the Astros. He pitched a clean inning, striking out two batters to secure the win and record his third save of the season. Joyce now has each of the last three saves for the Angels, seemingly taking over the closer role.

Joyce edged out Jacob Misiorowski for the hardest pitches of the night, topping out at 104.5 and 104.4 mph. Misiorowski couldn’t do better than a measly 104.2 mph. Expect Joyce to keep getting save chances for the Angels when things line up properly. However, they shouldn’t be using him on back-to-back days in his first month back from shoulder surgery, and they’re probably going to have only so many leads over the final six weeks.

Joyce threw three pitches over 100 mph, including one that clocked at 103.4. The flamethrower has his first save of 2026, and while the Angels won’t provide a ton of chances for reasons that aren’t Joyce’s fault, it seems very likely he’ll see more over the final 40 or so games.

Honestly, Fermin had no business coming away with this save. He faced five batters and let up three hits as the Marlins pushed him to the brink in the ninth inning. The key reason he escaped his own mess is because Jose Siri made a perfect throw to nail Javier Sanoja at home plate to end the game. This was Fermin’s first save of the season as Ben Joyce pitched the eighth inning in his second outing off the injured list, so pay attention to how this role develops.

The left-hander has been lights out this year, with 38 strikeouts and an 0.88 WHIP in 25 innings pitched over 21 appearances. Ben Joyce pitched yesterday and the Angels would probably rather have Natera available for heavy left-handed parts of the order, but Natera is pitching so well that he might be the man to roster if Joyce can’t establish himself as the closer after a long layoff. Even right-handers are hitting just .152/.220/.304 against Natera.

Joyce, who was last seen in the majors 18 months ago, is finally back from shoulder surgery after posting a 5.06 ERA and a 12/8 K/BB in 10 2/3 innings during a rehab stint. He averaged 101.3 mph with his fastball during his Triple-A appearances, so that’s not going to be an issue. Command might be. He’s probably the favorite to lead the Angels in saves the rest of the way, but it might be a bumpy ride, especially for these next few weeks.

He struck out one and didn’t allow a single baserunner while topping out at 103.1 mph. It seems that Joyce is finally nearing his return to the Angels’ bullpen. The team may give him another week in the minors while they sort through the trade deadline moves, but he could be up and throwing high-leverage innings soon.